(About an hour after filing this, a solid source told me there is reason to believe Casey Printers is now on his way to Winnipeg. Kelly denies it, but maybe Bauer is starting to make his own moves.)
Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress told a story to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It’s one Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly (and probably even CEO Lyle Bauer) should consider:
Childress, whose Vikings looked outstanding in a 34-20 win at Cleveland on Sunday, was talking about the time during the 1980s when he was an offensive assistant coach with the Indianapolis Colts and Art Schlichter was his starting quarterback:
“This is a true story,” Chrildress said. “He (Schlichter) was with us one game. He was our starter. We cut him after the first game. We’re standing in there and just got our butts beat. It was awful. I’m like, ‘I don’t care if it’s the first game for a new staff or whatever. A beating is a beating.’ I’m trying to stay out of the way. I’m soaping up in the shower, and here comes Tom Lovat, who was at Green Bay for years. He was assistant head coach. He says, ‘Well, Bradley, let me tell you something.’ He had a great way about him, a great perspective. He goes on, ‘That game right there will make you damn glad you don’t own a piano, you know what I mean?’ I said, ‘No, Coach, I don’t really know.’ He says, ‘You ever move a piano? Those things are heavy as hell. If we keep playing like that, our butts will be moving. Makes you damn glad you don’t own a piano.’”
It was a wonderful story and yesterday, Kelly was in the same situation. His Blue Bombers fell to 3-7 on the season with an embarrassing 55-10 loss in the Banjo Bowl at Canad Inns Stadium.
It was so bad, my pal Dr. Sports from Hot 103 in Winnipeg called from the stadium to say, “Fold the team and tear down the stadium, it has reached rock bottom. This is the worst I’ve ever seen.”
Well, hopefully, the city will get to tear down the stadium soon and David Asper will build the team a new one at the University of Manitoba.
The Blue Bomber board of directors needs to clean house. Sooner, not later. The board should call in Asper, who will soon take over the team anyway, and let him assume the leadership responsibilities now.
Let’s not pull any punches, the board has been as big a disaster as Mike Kelly or any other failed coach. The board has been as big a disaster as Stefan Lefors or any other failed quarterback.
This franchise hasn’t won a Grey Cup in 19 years and it’s unlikely it will win one this year. In an eight-team league, every team should win at least one Grey Cup in 19 years just by having a little dumb luck.
It’s time for a wholesale change. And that doesn’t mean fire the coach. It means changing the culture of the franchise completely. It’s the only way to salvage what could soon become a very, very embarrassing year.